the music

Before Late Romantic orchestral trends of length and scope separated the trajectory of lighter orchestral works from the Western Classical canon, classical composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Joseph Haydn won as much fame for writing lighter pieces such as Eine Kleine Nachtmusik as for their symphonies and operas. Later examples of early European light music include the operettas of composers such as Franz von Suppé or Sir Arthur Sullivan; the Continental salon and parlour music genres; and the waltzes and marches of Johann Strauss II and his family. The Straussian waltz became a common light music composition (note for example Charles Ancliffe's "Nights of Gladness" or Felix Godin's "Valse Septembre"). These influenced the foundation of a "lighter" tradition of classical music in the 19th and early 20th centuries...from the likes of Binge and Coates to Farnon.

Walter Collins, British composer

Walter Roland Collins, British composer and arranger, born 1891. Popular around mid 20th century as a composer of light orchestral miniatures with intriguing titles. Apart from the Four Cornish Dances, which pre-date those by Malcolm Arnold and which finish with a setting of the Helston Floral Dance, those Collins works are in single movements. Such as his Cumberland Green, Rat-a-Tat Polka, Strings in the Wood, Vabe Capricietto. Holiday Parade, The Persistent Serenade, In the Cloisters and the marches Olympia, Devil May Care and Paper Hats and Wood Swords.

 VIDEO: Strings In The Mood · London Promenade Orchestra · Walter Collins The Golden Age of Light Music: The Composer Conducts - Vol. 2 ℗ 2011 Guild Light Music